


Not Quite a Ghost Story

by Serenityreview



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Ghosts, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Non-Linear Narrative, Not Beta Read, Pre-Slash, alternative universe season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 11:09:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7755433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenityreview/pseuds/Serenityreview
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Season One AU where the Hales all died in the fire but people are stilling dropping died in town so Stiles investigates the Hale fire and discovers the supernatural.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Quite a Ghost Story

Stiles wasn’t quite sure on how to start this conversation. How do you tell a ghost that you need to stop his uncle’s ghost that had been killing people and gaining power through it. 

“So your uncle has been killing people and apparently I need to stop him.” Stiles inwardly cringed when he finished the sentence that probably was not a good start. 

“It’s within his rights!” Derek exclaimed. The lights in his room flickered frantically. Clearly what Stiles just said had struck a sensitive nerve.

“Wow, I know he want revenge on those that set the fire, but –“

“THEY DESERVED IT!” Derek’s appearance changed into a charred corpse before flickering back to his usual form and continuing softly, “It was – it was their baby shower. Uncle Peter and Aunt Claire were going to have a baby. It was – it was – then the house was on fire.”

Derek disappeared. Claire Hale was pregnant? Was the first thought that popped into Stiles’ mind; it wasn’t in the police report. Then again the corpses were so charred that no one could identify them on sight. The second thought was that Kate Argent is a psychotic bitch of massive proportions. But he still has to stop Peter Hale and put him to rest. All the lore he had read on vengeful spirits generally ended in complete disasters. Stiles groaned, how was this his life?

-

Stiles stared at the old Hale house on the Preserve. A part of him, the logical part, thinks about turning back and not stepping into a death trap. But he knew what he saw on the lacrosse field, it was Derek Hale. Besides there were sightings all around the school of a guy with a burned face appearing in classrooms and in the boy’s locker room. So here he was, standing in front the condemned building with a flashlight and a hastily downloaded EMF app on his phone. 

He wished that Scott was with him right now, but his best friend was too busy fawning over everything Allison did to come ghost hunting. Stiles was happy for him, he really was, but he can’t help but feel abandoned by his best friend. Stiles stepped into the house. He wasn’t quite sure what to do next.

“Derek?” He called out. Silence greeted him; he felt a bit silly coming over here hoping to catch a ghost. What if Derek was an angry ghost that will try to kill him for disturbing his home? What if the rest of the Hales where also here? What if they were all angry ghosts? Being burned alive wasn’t pleasant, as all of Stiles’ research had told him.

Stiles shook his head. He turned to leave when he glimpsed something in the cracked mirror that hung on the blackened wall. It was a woman. Stiles stopped and quickly turned around but there was no one there. Stiles moved out the door, got in his Jeep and went home.

\- 

There was a new girl in his class. Allison Argent was beautiful and Scott was immediately smitten. Stiles had to endure Scott’s endless pining. A small part of him thinks this might be payback for all the times Scott had to listen to him ramble on about Lydia Martin. Speaking of Lydia, she had declared Allison to be her new best friend. The chances of Scott getting his dream girl just went to zero. He felt bad for his friend, there was no way a popular girl would date a benchwarmer on the lacrosse team. 

Stiles didn’t even understand why Scott had thought he had a chance at actually playing in a game this year. His asthma was horrible to begin with. Still as the other teen’s one and only best friend he also joined the lacrosse team. He was being supportive but he was also a realist, the only way he and Scott would be allowed on the field is if they were the only people on the team left standing after some kind of disaster. Sometimes Stiles wished he had a bit of Scott’s optimism but between the two of them someone had to be grounded in reality, so it might as well be him. He was a cop’s kid and he liked detective work. Finding patterns was his thing. Patterns like that Mr. Harris really doesn’t like him and thus unfairly gave out detentions to him. He looked at the clock on the wall. He was going to late for detention with Mr. Harris. He hurried to the classroom. 

-

His father looked exhausted. There were a bunch of bizarre deaths around town in the past few days and the police had been stumped. The files were laid out on the kitchen table, an open bottle of whiskey acting as a paperweight. Stiles’ quickly scanned the files.

“Hey, this is official police business. No peeking.” His father reprimanded.

“I’m just trying to help you, dad.” Stiles said.

“Leave this to the professionals.” His father reached for the bottle of alcohol and poured himself a glass.

Stiles was probably going to rot in the lowest circle of Hell for taking advantage of his father’s buzzed state. He slowly reached for one of the files.

“Hey, wasn’t this guy the bus driver from my school?” He began casually. 

“Yeah, he was. He was mauled by some kind of animal.”

“A mountain lion?” Stiles suggested.

“Looks like it, doesn’t explain why he was mauled inside the bus though,” He reached for the glass again, “I shouldn’t be drinking this much.”

“You worked really hard, dad. Another sip wouldn’t hurt.” Yep, definitely going to Hell now.

“I guess.” The sheriff took another sip of whiskey and continued, “They are all connected to the Hale fire.”

“Really?”

“Yes, the bus driver was the insurance investigator that ruled the fire accidental. The video store clerk had arson on his record. So did the other two guys we found mauled in the woods. I just wish I can make sense of this.”

“Maybe it’s their ghosts seeking revenge.”

His father gave him look, “Go to bed kid.”

“You should get some rest too dad.”

“I miss your mom.”

Stiles froze, “What?”

“I miss your mom. I miss talking to her.”

Stiles didn’t know what to do expect nod his head. They don’t talk about his mother. 

“Goodnight dad.”

-

Mr. Harris was the next to go. A janitor found him in pieces in his classroom. The school was swarmed with police and classes were cancelled until further notice. Now Stiles was confused, he’s not sure what his chemistry teacher had to do with the Hale fire, but now that he had the day off he could investigate. He knew where his father kept the files in the house. Scott was off somewhere with Allison again, so Stile doesn’t even bother asking if he wanted to hang out or anything. 

He heads home and reads the files. Eleven people died in that fire. It was labeled as an electrical malfunction. They did suspect arson at the time but didn’t have enough evidence to go on. The Hales mostly kept to themselves. It was pretty suspect to have found the entire family down in the basement. By the time the fire department got there the house was pretty much gone. He got out his laptop and searched each of the names listed on the report. He finds pictures and articles on some of them. Like how Derek Hale went to his high school and was on the basketball team and how Laura Hale had been a member of a local dance troupe. 

And now all the people connected to the fire was being killed, but why now? The fire happened six years ago, why were the killings happening now? Did something trigger this? He typed in vengeful spirits into Google and began to research. After a few hours of reading all sorts of fanfiction and lore his eyes were tired. He did get a lot of information on how to exercise ghosts, none of which he think would work, and that ghosts usually have unfinished business in the world and thus can’t move on. It seemed that the Hale ghost’s unfinished business was revenge on those who had a hand in the fire. That’s still leaves the timing. Why now? What makes this year different?

He racked his brain. There was a new frozen yogurt place on Main Street. Lydia Martin got a new car. Jackson became more of an asshole. Allison Argent transferred to the school. Scott managed to get himself a girlfriend. Maybe it was just a weird year.

-

“What does the spiral mean?” Stiles asked Laura. It was a pattern he noticed cropping up in the police report photos.

“It is our symbol for revenge.” Laura answered solemnly. 

-

Stiles ran as fast as he could. All those lacrosse practices were good for something after all. He ran because Peter Hale had gotten stronger with each kill and had abducted Allison in order to lure out Kate Argent. Kate might be a total psycho who burned down a house with innocent people (werewolves) in it but Allison was a sweetheart and Scott would be devastated if she died.

So Stiles ran with his backpack full of supplies he had gotten from Dr. Deaton (just a vet my ass) of all people to track down the vengeful ghost. He only hoped it wasn’t too late.

-

His car was one of the few left in the school parking lot. He was pretty sure it was against school rules to give a student such a long detention on a Friday. He just wanted to go home. A woman came up to him asking if he knew where her brother was. He told the woman no and left. It was only later that he realized that he had seen her face before. It was Laura Hale.

-

Stiles returned to the Hale house. This time he asked for Laura. She appears and tells him that Derek, her brother, hadn’t came home yet and she can’t seem to find him anywhere. She was worried. Stiles told her that there had been ghost sightings of him around the school. She thanks him and tells him to go home because it was going to rain soon.

-

Laura seemed nice enough but maybe she was only nice to him because he wasn’t involved in the fire that killed her. She did seemed to be very concerned about her brother though and Stiles always loved a good mystery. Maybe Derek was the vengeful one and Laura was just watching out for her little brother. Or maybe Laura was the vengeful one and Derek was avoiding her wrath. There could also be another ghost haunting Beacon Hills and killing people. 

Stiles was standing behind the bleachers when Derek appeared. Stiles may have let out a girlish high pitch scream but luckily no one was around to hear it.

“Did you kill Mr. Harris?” Was the first thing that came out of his mouth; he cringed, not the best thing to ask a possibly vengeful ghost.

“No.” 

“Okay, do you know who did?”

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because Laura asked me to find you?” Stiles hated how unsure he sounded.

“Laura?” Derek looked sad at the mention of his sister, “Tell her to stop looking.”

The he disappeared into thin air, which was just unfair in Stiles’ opinion because he had so many questions he wanted to ask. Oh well, maybe he can get Laura to answer them. 

-

Scott doesn’t believe him when he tells him about the ghosts he keeps on seeing. Which is just as well, it gave him an excuse to kick his ass at Mario Kart. He also doesn’t voice his hunch about how the Argents were probably involved somehow. 

He dug through a ton of records because he thought the name Argent was kind of familiar. Turned that the Argents used to live here six years ago and move away sometime after the Hale fire. When they came back the killings started. It was suspicious but without evidence it was pure speculation. And he couldn’t figure out the motive, yes, better keep this one to himself. 

-

Werewolves. Seriously, werewolves. Why not? There were a bunch of ghosts running around town so why wouldn’t werewolves be real? Dr. Deaton, Scott’s boss, had just informed Stiles that the Hales were a family (pack) of werewolves and that the Argents were werewolf hunters. And now he, Stiles, had to exercise the vengeful ghost of Peter Hale before he kills everyone in town. 

“Why can’t you do it?” Stiles asked hysterically. 

“Because I’m retired and you have a connection with the Hales.” The vet’s expression doesn’t change.

“What connection?” Stiles doesn’t understand. Sure he talked to Laura a couple times and pestered Derek with questions about being a ghost whenever he sees him but he didn’t think that constituted as a connection. 

Deaton just gave him a look, “Here are some things you will need.” 

-

Chris Argent was there with a gun. Stiles hoped it was a gun that shot special ghost repelling ammo. Kate Argent was also there with a gun. All Stiles had with him was a backpack full of herbs. 

“What are you doing here?” Chris asked him not taking his eyes off of Kate.

“Allison is my friend.”

“You went to Deaton.” It was not a question. 

“So what?”

“Focus, my daughter is in there.”

“She wouldn’t be in there if someone just followed the Code.” Stiles muttered.

Kate leveled her gun at Stiles, but he doesn’t back down. He thought about Derek and Laura and all the other Hales that were killed in the fire because of this woman. If Kate didn’t kill them, maybe Stiles could have been friends with Laura and Derek; maybe this heavy feeling in his chest would go away. 

“Kate stop.” Chris said; he sounded tired. “Let’s just get Allison back.”

Kate lowered her gun and moved inside the house. Chris and Stiles followed.

-

Peter held Kate in place. Allison was crying on the floor. Chris was trying to aim. Stiles could only watch in horror.

“Apologize.” Peter told Kate, “Say you’re sorry for killing my family, or I will kill her too.” 

“I’m sorry.” Kate said shakily. 

“I don’t know about you Allison but that didn’t sound very sincere.” He torn out Kate Argent’s throat and her limp body fell to the floor with a loud thump. Allison screamed and Chris Argent emptied his gun into the ghost. It did seem to hurt him. Stiles grabbed a handful of mountain ash and willed himself to believe.

-

Stiles felt kind of pathetic since he spent most of his time with ghosts instead of living people these days. His father was busy at the station trying to solve the recent killings and Scott was busy wooing Allison. But Laura was awesome and tolerated his ramblings with the patience that Derek lacked. Even Derek wasn’t even that bad once you get pass his surly glares. Stiles gave him a pass on that; the guy was burned alive after all. 

“Do you know who’s doing the killings?” Stiles asked Laura one day. 

“No.” 

“Do you think it is Derek then?”

“I don’t know.” She looked at him sadly.

-

“Hey, are you the one killing all those people?” Stiles asked Derek.

Derek gave him an unimpressed look and said, “No.”

“Do you know who the killer is then?”

Derek froze and then disappeared. It told Stiles that Derek does know whose ghost was behind the killings and doesn’t want to tell him. Stiles felt angry; he thought he and Derek had built some sort of camaraderie over the past few weeks. Obliviously Derek didn’t feel the same. He should stop hanging out with ghosts. 

-

Stiles was going to die. He was going to be killed by the angry ghost of Peter Hale. His father was going to find his son in little pieces. Then Derek was there, appearing in the house for the first time since this thing started. Stiles doesn’t know whether to be scared or be relived. 

“Uncle, stop! He didn’t do anything wrong!” He pleaded to the other ghost. 

Peter was too far-gone in his madness to be persuaded. He sneered at his nephew and then turned towards the remaining Argents and hissed, “A child for a child. Your child for mine.”

“Peter stop!” Laura’s voice called out. 

“Don’t get in my way Laura!” 

Stiles was still reeling from the fact that he wasn’t torn to shreds by an angry werewolf ghost that he didn’t notice when Derek got close to him. 

“Finish the ritual,” Derek whispered to him, “We’ll distract Peter.”

Stiles reached for his backpack and pulled out the mixture Deaton had given him earlier and poured it out on to the floor. Be the spark. Believe. He began to recite the spell.

-

There was a shit storm afterwards. Stiles was grounded. Chris Argent thought up a convincing cover story that excludes the supernatural. Peter Hale’s ghost was exercised. Laura was still here because Derek was still here and she can’t find him. So Stiles was in his room trying to find a ghost summoning ritual that actually worked. 

During his fourth try Derek appeared and he didn’t look happy.

“It worked!”

“What do you want Stiles?” He growled at him.

Before Stiles can answer him, Laura appeared in the room. She looked relived at the sight of her brother. 

“Derek, come home.”

Derek looked down, “I can’t. It’s my fault that we’re dead. She - she was there in the department store. Kate was. She flirted with me and asked me what I was doing in the baby section. And I told her about the baby shower. I didn’t realize she was a hunter.”

“Oh, sweetie, it’s not your fault.” Laura reached out to Derek.

“Yeah, she’s just a psychotic bitch.” Stiles chimed in.

“You are not mad at me?” Derek looked up at Laura.

“No. It’s not your fault.” Laura said firmly. She then turned to Stiles and offered her thanks for finding Derek. 

“No, problem. So I guess this is goodbye then.”

“I can see them.” Derek said suddenly. 

“Going into the light, huh?”

“Yeah,” Derek was smiling (Stiles thought he looked beautiful), “Goodbye Stiles and thank you.”

Stiles felt sad, like he was loosing something important.

The two Hales waved goodbye and disappeared for good. Stiles collapsed on to his bed. The tears won’t stop coming. 

-

It took a while for Stiles to feel okay again. Funny how a few weeks can feel like a lifetime. He really wished that Laura was still here so he can talk to her. Heck, even Derek would do. But they are gone now and Stiles is glad that they have found peace. He still visits the Preserve. It was nice there; sometimes he brings flowers to the Hale house.

The one good thing that came out of this whole mess was that he and Allison are now friends, having bonded over the horrible experience of being nearly murdered by a vengeful spirit. The bad thing was Stiles was now aware of the supernatural and can’t help but be paranoid when anything happens around town, something even Scott managed to notice through his tunnel vision of Allison. But Stiles doesn’t tell him, instead he goes to Deaton and asks for more information on all the things that go bump in the night, so he will be prepared when the inevitable comes. He thinks the Hales would approve.

The End


End file.
